ENERGY R. E. Smalley Rice University TCSAM Distinguished Lecture University of Houston March 17, 2003

ENERGY is the single most important problem facing humanity today. WE CAN SOLVE THIS PROBLEM with revolutionary breakthroughs at the frontiers of Physical Sciences & Engineering, and particularly in Nanotechnology We need a new APOLLO PROJECT to do this. The problem is huge, but it is also a magnificent opportunity. Success will revolutionize the largest industry in the world, Energy. American boys and girls will enter the physical sciences to do this, inspired by their idealism, their sense of mission, and their desire to be “where the action is”. In the process this new Apollo Project will produce a cornucopia of new technologies, and provide the underpinnings for vast new economic prosperity for the US and the world.

Humanity’s Top Ten Problems for next 50 years 1.ENERGY 2.WATER 3.FOOD 4.ENVIRONMENT 5.POVERTY 6.TERRORISM & WAR 7.DISEASE 8.EDUCATION 9.DEMOCRACY 10. POPULATION Billion People Billion People

The ENERGY REVOLUTION (The Terawatt Challenge) 14 Terawatts 210 M BOE/day Terawatts 450 – 900 MBOE/day The Basis of Prosperity 20 st Century = OIL 21 st Century = ??

Projected Demand for Carbon-Free Energy M.I. Hoffert et. al., Nature, 1998, 395, 881, “Energy Implications of Future Atmospheric Stabilization of CO 2 Content” Possible Sources of Carbon-Free Energy M.I. Hoffert et. al., Science, 2002, 298, 981, “Advanced Technology Paths to Global Climate Stability: Energy for a Greenhouse Planet”

Population Growth to 10 Billion People in 2050 Per Capita GDP Growth at 1.6% yr -1 Energy consumption per Unit of GDP declines at 1.0% yr -1

Energy Demand & Source (in Terawatts) YEAR Source: M.I. Hoffert et. al., Nature, 1998, 395, 881, TW million BOE/day

Tonight’s Reading Assignment “Hubbert’s Peak” by Kenneth Deffeyes (2001) King Hubbert predicted US oil production would peak in It did. The same approach predicts World Oil production will peak within this decade. It will. The days of cheap energy from oil will then be gone. (See also Colin Campbell’s interview at

World Energy Millions of Barrels per Day (Oil Equivalent) Source: John F. Bookout (President of Shell USA),“Two Centuries of Fossil Fuel Energy” International Geological Congress, Washington DC; July 10,1985. Episodes, vol 12, (1989).

World Proven OIL Reserves THE REMAINING OIL RESERVES ARE NOT WHERE WE WANT THEM. FOR TRANSPORTATION FUELS WE CURRENTLY HAVE NO CHOICE.

Tomorrow’s Reading Assignment “ The Hydrogen Economy : The Next Great Economic Revolution” by Jeremy Rifkin (Tarcher/Putnam, 2002) H 2 is not a primary energy source. But, after natural gas, it probably will be our future transportation fuel and energy storage medium. (also check out )

PRIMARY ENERGY SOURCES Alternatives to Oil Conservation / Efficiency-- not enough Hydroelectric -- not enough Biomass -- not enough Wind -- not enough Wave & Tide-- not enough Natural Gas -- sequestration?, cost? Clean Coal -- sequestration?, cost? Nuclear Fission -- radioactive waste?, terrorism?, cost? Nuclear Fusion -- too difficult?, cost? Geothermal HDR-- cost ? Solar terrestrial -- cost ? Solar power satellites -- cost ? Lunar Solar Power -- cost ?

Solar Cell Land Area Requirements 20 TW 3 TW Graphic from Nate Lewis Cal Tech 165,000 TW of sunlight hit the earth every day

Solar Cell Land Area Requirements 6 Boxes at 3.3 TW Each

Sun-Moon-Beam-Rectenna KEY PROMOTER: DAVID CRISWELL ( Institute of Space Systems Operations, University of Houston) Solar Power -> Lunar BaseS -> Power BeamS -> Earth ReceiverS

≥ 20 TWe from the Moon

14 Enabling Nanotech Revolutions 1.Photovoltaics -- a revolution to drop cost by 10 to100 fold. 2.H 2 storage -- a revolution in light weight materials for pressure tanks, and/or a new light weight, easily reversible hydrogen chemisorption system 3. Fuel cells -- a revolution to drop the cost by nearly 10 to 100 fold 4.Batteries and supercapacitors -- revolution to improve by x for automotive and distributed generation applications. 5.Photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 to produce a liquid fuel such as methanol. 6.Direct photoconversion of light + water to produce H 2 7.Super-strong, light weight materials to drop cost to LEO, GEO, and later the moon by > 100 x, to enable huge but low cost light harvesting structures in space; and to improve efficiency of cars, planes, etc. 8.Nanoelectronics to revolutionize computers, sensors and devices.

9.High current cables (superconductors, or quantum conductors) with which to rewire the electrical transmission grid, and enable continental, and even worldwide electrical energy transport; and also to replace aluminum and copper wires essentially everywhere -- particularly in the windings of electric motors (especially good if we can eliminate eddy current losses). 10.Thermochemical catalysts to generate H 2 from water that work efficiently at temperatures lower than 900 C. 11.CO 2 mineralization schemes that can work on a vast scale, hopefully starting from basalt and having no waste streams. 12.Nanoelectronics based Robotics with AI to enable construction maintenance of solar structures in space and on the moon; and to enable nuclear reactor maintenance and fuel reprocessing. 13.NanoMaterials/ coatings that will enable vastly lower the cost of deep drilling, to enable HDR (hot dry rock) geothermal heat mining. 14.Nanotech lighting to replace incandescent and fluorescent lights 14 Enabling Nanotech Revolutions

The People Problem

By 2010, if current trends continue, over 90% of all physical scientists and engineers in the world will be Asians working in Asia.

Sources: Science and Engineering Doctorate Awards, NSF, Science and Engineering Indicators, NSB, Sciences = Physics, chemistry, astronomy, earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences Engineering = Aeronautical, astronautical, chemical, civil, electrical, industrial, material, metallurgical, and mechanical.

The Sputnik Generation Physical Scientist Production in the US is not keeping up with GDP even though the physical sciences are the basis of most wealth creation. We Need a New Sputnik Event to inspire US citizens into the Physical Sciences and Engineering. We have one: 9/11

The biggest single challenge for the next few decades: ENERGY for people. At MINIMUM we need 10 Terawatts (150 M BOE/day) from some new clean energy source by 2050 For worldwide peace and prosperity we need it to be cheap. We simply can not do this with current technology. We need Boys and Girls to enter Physical Science and Engineering as they did after Sputnik. Inspire in them a sense of MISSION ( BE A SCIENTIST SAVE THE WORLD ) We need a bold new APOLLO PROGRAM to find the NEW ENERGY TECHNOLOGY

New Energy Research Program ( The Nickel & Dime Solution) For FY04-FY09 collect 5 cents from every gallon of oil product Invest the resultant > $10 Billion per year as additional funding in frontier energy research distributed among DOE, NSF, NIST, NASA, and DoD. For the next 10 years collect 10 cents from every gallon; invest the >$20 Billion per year in frontier energy research. Devote a third of this money to New Energy Research Centers located adjacent to major US Research Universities. At worst this endeavor will create a cornucopia of new technologies and new industries. At best, we will solve the energy problem before 2020, and thereby lay the basis for peace and prosperity worldwide.